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As another year is fast coming to a close, it
is time to think about all the stuff in the video game hobby and industry to
give thanks for. While there are many things more important to give thanks
for, like health, family and freedom, that is for someone else's
newsletter. This is a video game newsletter and so we will focus on video
games. Here is what I am thankful for during the past year!

1. Great Shows-Having
the pleasure of attending the Phillyclassic and helping host the CCAG, I was
able to meet alot of fellow gamers, share stories, buy, sell and trade games and
just have fun! Hopefully in the next year, I will be able to attend more
shows like the CGE and the Cinciclassic.

2. More exposure-The newsletter and the
website in general received a fair amount of press over the past year and it
helped to bring even more classic gamers to the site! With the website
address appearing in three different newspapers, answering questions on the
radio and being a regular contributor in Classic Gamer magazine as well as
having my story in the Digital Press and being in the links page of Phoenix, the
website is more known this year than last!

3. Great writers-The newsletter has really
been blessed with a fine stable of great writers! This group has grown
over the past year! With Fred and Alan staying on as regulars, we also saw
a few new regulars! Jim with his TI articles and Dave, the Video Game
Critic, with his reviews have really round out the lineup. And we keep
adding more great writers! Cannot wait for 2002!

4. More games-Besides
classic games, we now have three new video game systems. Over the next
year, we will be seeing some of the most beautiful, immersive and exciting games
in the history of the industry. And for bargain shoppers, the dying
Dreamcast and the aging Playstation offer a ton of great games at incredible
prices!

5. Many new products-With
the continuous flow of new games from John Dondazilla to the second
Intellivision CD from the Blue Sky Rangers to a new edition of Phoenix: The Fall
and Rise of Video Games, we had many great products in the past year. Add
in the Cuttlecart, a cool Vectrex joystick and a new MAME joystick (the
Devastator) and you have some great items for classic game fans!

6. More classic game
websites-More and more great sites are popping up! With some
dedicated to a single console or game, to ones with classic java games you can
play online to cool movies or commercials to watch, you have a bunch of places
for the classic gamer to surf!

7. More Prototypes
released-With recently found and released classic prototypes like
Combat II and Elevator Action for the Atari 2600, to new Colecovision games from
Atarisoft, classic gamers found a bunch of new games to enjoy on their old
systems!

So when you are done thanking the diety of
your choice (whether it be God, Buddha, Bira Bira or whoever) for your family,
friends, health and so on, take a moment to give thanks for all that has
happened in the video game industry. I think you will agree it has been a
great year for video game fans!

Welcome back to the vault. This month's commercial is for Yar's Revenge
for the Atari 2600, one of the several commercials to feature the
familiar jingle "Have you played your Atari today". Sadly, an ad for an
awesome game is done with a dopey song. It features two kids playing the
game, and later their mom joins in and fights the enemy while they
munch on pizza. Plus, they all have fun doing it, especially after the
mother wins the level. The words are below, but don't ask me for a sound
file; trust me, you don't want it.

"You're a fly named Yar on a quest in space,
you attack the shield of the Qotile's base.
But watch out, Yar,
He knows where you are.
Yar's Revenge is new from Atari,
Have you played Atari today?"
"With ion zones and evil drones, there's nothing like Yar's Revenge, the way out space game that's new from Atari. Who else?
"HAVE YOU PLAYED ATARI TODAY!"

PICTURES:

This boy follows Yar on the TV screen.

"Here, you do it. I can't watch!"

"Go get em' Mom. Attack that shield"

"Yay! We did it!"

I wonder how many mothers saw this ad and were thinking," Maybe I should
get this game and play it with my kids?" Perhaps we'll never know. Yet
another excellent game marred a dopey
commercial (the first Legend of Zelda shares your pain, Yar).

(Hi, I'm Adam King, a 22-year-old game
player who's played for nearly 16 years. I like to collect Atari, Intellivision,
NES, and Sega Master System games, accessories, and other items (though i dabble
in other systems as well). I can be reached at Hal_3000@rocketmail.com.)

In the long and storied history of video games, developers have been inspired by many things. TV shows, current events, bad dreams, etc. But the most notable inspiration has been the movies.

Now before you go and think that this is another tirade about how bad movie-licensed games are, just hold on.

I know there is a history of bad (and I mean BAD) movie games. Going back to the Atari days right up through the new systems.

I'm here to comment that there are too few movie-inspired games.

Well at least one too few.

What got me thinking about this was something I read. Coming soon for Xbox and PS2 - "The Thing". Many of you have seen this 1982 John Carpenter movie starring Kurt Russell. Maybe some of you haven't. Basically, an alien entity gets into an Antarctic base and can adapt its look to anyone it absorbs. You don't know who is an alien or who isn't. Very tense and claustrophobic. The game is supposed to pick up where the movie left off. I think this has the possibility to be great.

It also has the possibility of being a disappointment.

A game based on a movie with a cult following had better be better-than-average or it will get blasted. "Evil Dead" for the Dreamcast and Playstation suffered this fate. The developers made an average game. But the expectations of the audience was more than average. And the game's reviews (and sales) suffered because of it.

The same thing could happen to "The Thing". I hope it turns out great, but you just don't know.

But that is not what I'm here to discuss.

Like "The Thing" and "Evil Dead", many movie games are inspired by horror movies. Not as many as action movies, but certainly more than most other genres.

"Friday the 13th, "Nightmare on Elm Street", "Frankenstein", "Dracula", "Texas Chainsaw Massacre', "Halloween" and "The Crow" have all had video games based on them. Even the Werewolf has a NES game.

But who's been left out ?

Who has never gotten the respect necessary to garner a video game ?

I'll tell you who.

The Creature.

Yes, The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

This 1954 classic inspired 2 sequels, but as of yet, no video game. No movie remake either.

Too bad. It could be an interesting game. You could player the part of the scientist/hunter and try to track the creature to its lair. Maybe attempt to weaken it with non-lethal weapons before capturing it. Different sections could segue into the other 2 movies (Revenge of the Creature and The Creature Walks Among Us).

Or what I'd like to see. You could be the Creature. In a Metal Gear Solid type of game, you must track, avoid, kill and capture those pesky human invaders to your jungle home.

Or someone could make a Tomb Raider-like piece of crap and slap a picture of the Creature on the front.

Nah. That would be too easy.

(Fred has been playing games for over 25
years and actively collecting them for over 10. The 2500 + games that he has
takes up most of his home office and living room. He lives in Denver, PA with
his understanding wife Jennie, his 5 year-old, button-loving son, Max and his 2
year old, 4th player, Lynzie. Fred recommends that you get a copy of the 1993
comic book adaptation of the “Creature from the Black Lagoon” if you can
find one. Fred can be reached at fcw3@mail.ptd.net).

Star Wars didn't arrive in the arcades until 1983, the
same year as "Return of the Jedi" hit the silver screen - almost 6
years after the original "Star Wars" movie came out. Much of this
delay in finally getting a Star Wars game to the arcade was probably due to
licensing battles with Lucasfilm. When Parker Brothers released the home version
they added the word "Arcade" to the title, thus - Star Wars: Arcade.
There was also a revised arcade release Star Wars Arcade that saw limited
distribution in 1994.

From a first person point of view, you become Luke
Skywalker and sit in the cockpit of his X-Wing fighter to recreate the final
assault on the Death Star. You have 10 levels of shielding to protect your ship
and each hit by a fireball, or collision with a tower or barrier would knock
your shields down one notch. When you reached zero shields the next hit would
end your game. The game was pretty well designed and included colorful, detailed
and smooth vector graphics, and actually followed the story line of the final
sequence - attacking the Death Star. Add to this the fact that it was the only
official "Star Wars" game, and these machines devoured our quarters
and easily ruled the arcades in 1983.

In the first of 3 rounds, you begin the final assault
on the Death Star as part of the rebel squadrons trying to get past the waves of
Imperial TIE fighters. Shoot the TIE fighters, Darth Vader’s fighter, and any
fireballs launched your way. If you survive, then you'd make a run along the
Death Star's surface in the next round. There 10 laser towers must be shot and
avoided, as well as many more fireballs that can also be shot down to score
points. The final round takes you into that special trench that will lead to the
small exhaust port opening - the only weak-spot on the Death Star. You must
avoid the catwalks and other barriers in the trench, and avoid or knock out yet
more fireballs. At the end of the trench, your well timed shot would set off a
chain reaction destroying the Death Star - and you'd start the mission all over
again, but each level would be a little bit harder. You also get a bonus of an
increase in your shields by 3, but not more than the maximum 10. If you missed
your shot at the exhaust port, you'd lose one more level of your shields and
then have to make another run through that trench.

Disqualified: Sinclair Spectrum (N/A)
By popular request, readers wanted me to at least acknowledge the Sinclair
Spectrum version of this arcade classic. I do not own a Spectrum and was unable
to gather much information either. Released mostly in Europe by Domark, the
official release is supposed to be a fairly good game. I am only guessing that
this version was available both on cart and then disk/cassette.

Have Nots: Atari 2600 (36)
This port makes for a very good late (just before the crash) release for the
2600. It is also a bit hard to find. The Controls are very nice (8), but a
little bit sluggish, or slow compared to the other versions. All versions lose a
point here due to the bass-ackwards controls, where up is down and down is up.
OK, this setup is faithful to the yoke system employed at the arcade, and they
made it this way to respond like an airplane - pull back (down) on the stick
makes you go up. But then this really only makes sense on the third round where
you avoid the barriers and the entire screen moves with you - ie your point of
view changes as if you were flying an airplane. In the first 2 rounds, it’s
pretty much a target shoot where the joystick moves the crosshairs on the
screen. Thus it is really backwards for a target shooting scheme and IMHO, this
guarantees some control mistakes - so no 10’s will be given out for Controls
on this game. The Gameplay is very nice (8) with all 3 rounds included, and the
A/B switch lets you chose a starting level 1 or 3. Darth Vader's ship is
included as one of the enemy ships to destroy in the first round, worth twice as
many points. Since this does not add any apparent value or strategy to the game,
the scores are not helped or penalized or by this feature. There is no pause
button, but all of the other features of the arcade game are included in some
way. The number of shields you start with and max with is 8, instead of 10. The
Graphics are pretty good (7), [actually great for a 2600 game] but do take away
from the action. The Sound is fine (6), where pretty much everything is there,
but a step down from the other versions. Unfortunately, on all home versions,
the Star Wars theme music only plays during the introduction, and after the game
ends. There is mention of using "The Force", which I still have not
learned to do. So maybe, like the Star Wars ESB game, if you do the right thing
to invoke "The Force", the theme music will play while "The
Force" is in effect. The Addictivenes is cool (7) and you should get a lot
of mileage out of this cart.

Have Nots: Atari 5200 (38)
Two words - "Analog Sucks". Well, not this time - as the 5200's analog
controls DO respond, but unfortunately they are too responsive. The crosshairs
can move about the screen so much faster than the other versions that you could
potentially score more points on this version. But I'm willing to bet the farm
that 99% of you would give up long before you even get the feel for this
hyperactive control - yet alone to master it. So the Controls are pretty good
(7), as the game is playable, but the benefit of a quicker crosshair is lost if
you cannot stop at an exact location and fire. The lack of control drops the
Addictiveness score to very good (7). The remainder of the comments and scores
are the same as the Atari 8 bit version below.

Bronze Medal: Atari 8 bit (41)
The Controls are outstanding (9). But as I mentioned before, the airplane scheme
allows for error. The Gameplay is super (9) and everything is included, save for
Darth Vader’s ship. All versions from here up include a choice of starting
levels 1, 2 or 3. You start and max out at 9 shield levels in the 8 bit and 5200
versions. If all 10 towers are destroyed a 50K bonus is earned, which besides
being in the rules, is displayed on the screen as well. The Sound is very good
(7), but not quite as exciting as on the Colecovision. The Graphics are crisp
(8) and effective, but the 8 bit machines are capable of a little bit more. The
Addictiveness is enjoyable (8), and you’ll be sure to come back for more,
either via cart or floppy disk.

Silver Medal: Commodore 64 (42)
The Gameplay (9) is fantastic and includes 2 different pause buttons, and all
other features - except for Darth Vader’s ship. The shields start and max at
9. The Controls are outstanding (9). The Sound is cool (7), and all effects are
included, but not as good as the Colecovision. The Graphics are fantastic (9),
but the Colecovision has better explosions. The Addictiveness is nice (8), and
you can enjoy both a cart and disk format.

The rights to the European release were sold by Parker
Brothers to Domark, but I do not have a copy of this (1987) version to review.
Domark had the opportunity to either re-issue the same game exactly as the
original (PB in this case), add to it or touch it up, and even to remake the
game completely. The Digital Press Guide says that the graphics are even better
in the enhanced Domark version.

Gold Medal: Colecovision (43)
The Colecovison wins the gold, but all 3 medal winners are good versions to
play. The Gameplay is superb, (9) and offers all the bells and whistles, save
for a pause. It does include three minor features that make up for this some.
The choice to start the game is made by moving the stick to the choice of level
1, 2 or 3; some on screen information is given - see Atari 8 bit; and after the
Death Star is destroyed, there is a brief pause and displayed is information
about the bonus points and bonus shields earned. The shields begin and max at 9.
The Controls are nice (8), but slow/sluggish, maybe more so than the 2600. This
already assumes that you’ve upgraded to using an Atari sick. There is no
penalty to using an Atari stick since there is no pause or any other keypad
button that works. The Graphics are smooth flowing and excellent (10). The
attention to every detail, the explosions and debris make this the best home
version. The Sound is very nice (8) and seems to be a little more energetic than
the rest of the pack. The Addictiveness is enjoyable (8) and as with most CV
games, you will not be bored due to the game (or at least one of its settings)
being too easy to play.

=======

Once again, I must ask, why didn’t Parker Brothers
release a TI version of this game? Given the same quality programming PB
included in all the arcade hits, a TI port should have been good enough to medal
here. Come back next month when I review the Many Faces of Wizard of Wor for the
Atari 2600, 5200, 8bit, Commodore 64 and Apple II. I also plan to review the
Bally Astrocade version, but it gets disqualified as the licensing was not
official.

(Alan Hewston, who is looking for TI-99/4A carts of
Star Trek, Pac Man, Ms. Pac Man, Frogger, Robotron, Centipede, and others for
this column, can be reached at

(Alan Hewston, who is looking for TI-99/4A carts of
Star Trek, Pac Man, Ms. Pac Man, Frogger, Robotron, Centipede, and others for
this column, can be reached at Hewston95@stratos.net
or if you want to trade http://members.core.com/~hewston/Hewston_vg.html)

Now that we're in the heart of the football season, let's take a look at some
classic football games. These may not be the most realistic adaptations of the
sport, but some of these games are surprisingly fun.

Atari 2600:Football (Atari 1978) BTo me and my friends, this game is simply known as "trash can
football", due to the hilarious, blocky players. Yes, the graphics are
really bad. Two sets of flickering trash cans move slowly around a tiny vertical
screen-sized field. The amazing thing is, it's actually fun to play with two
players (there is no one-player mode). Choosing simple formations and executing
plays is easy and usually good for a few laughs. The football is a little black
square. When hiked, the quarterback can either run the ball, or pass and
"guide" the ball down field. Unrealistic for sure, but it works. I
always have a lot of fun with this game. You can punt, but can't kick field
goals. Showing incredible foresight, the programmers included a visible line
showing where you need to get to for a first down. It took 20 years for TV to
invent that!
Two players.

Super Challenge
Football (M-Network 1982) B+This is one of several fun football games for the Atari 2600. Super
Challenge offers a scrolling field complete with hash marks, non-flickering
players, and an easy-to-learn control scheme. Before each play, you assign a
route (or block direction) to each of the four linemen. This scheme allows for a
huge variety of plays. Interceptions are possible, but there are no kicks or
out-of-bounds. A favorite trick is to run off one side of the screen and
reappear on the other side. The main drawback is the lack of a one-player mode.
Super Challenge Football is one of the best football games for the Atari 2600.
2 playersRealsports Football
(Atari 1982) B
This is a decent football game overall, but the graphics are sparse and the
players flicker quite a bit. Instead of choosing a route for each player (as in
M-Network's football), you choose one of 7 plays (5 on defense) for the whole
team, which limits your options. The passing game is good, but it's a bit tough
to run, since an touching any part of the runner's body will take him down. What
does this game have over M-Network's football? Well, you can punt and kick field
goals, which work pretty well. There is a one player mode, but the computer
doesn't present much of a challenge.
1 or 2 players

Super Football (Atari
1988) AIt's too bad this was released at the end of the Atari 2600's life
cycle, because it's very impressive. Super Football is the missing link between
the early "flat" football games and the Genesis Madden titles. It
features 3-D football action on a scrolling field with goal posts. The
five-player teams are multicolored and well-rendered. Not only is there a nice
selection of offensive and defensive plays, but there are even receiver patterns
to choose! You get kickoffs, punts, and field goals. No question about it, this
blows away all the other Atari football games. It's easy to play and a lot of
fun. There's a one player mode with four skill levels, and the computer is a
real challenge too. There are probably a few aspects of the game I could
criticize, like no safeties or running out of bounds, but I what's the point?
This game is much better than any Atari 2600 football game has the right to be.
1 or 2 players

Odyssey 2:Football (Magnavox 1978) FThe graphics in this game are reminiscent of M-Network football for
the 2600, except the entire field is only one screen wide (no scrolling). Each
team has five players. There are eight plays on offense and defense, and you can
kick punts and field goals. The graphics aren't bad, but once the action gets
underway, reality starts to set in. There are NO first downs! You can only throw
passes at three angles, and you have NO control of your receiver until you catch
the ball. Timing a pattern correctly is difficult, and the defender, who has
total control of his linebacker, can easily pick off passes. There are no
safeties. When a player gets tackled in his own end zone, the other team simply
gets the ball. There's not much to like about this game.
2 players

Intellivision:NFL Football (Mattel 1979) AThis was an extremely ambitious football game for 1979, featuring
many offensive and defensive formations, punting, kicking, safeties, and a
complete scoreboard. It was years before anything this good was available for
the Atari 2600. And it's even fun to play! At first, entering the plays is a bit
complicated because it involves pressing so many buttons. But once you get the
hang of it, you'll find the game to be a nice combination of action and
strategy. Beware of veteran players who know the sneaky trick plays.
2 players

Colecovision:Super Action Football (Coleco 1983) FAt first glance this game looks like it has potential. The nice
looking, well-detailed field is viewed from an angle as if you were a spectator,
with a scoreboard in the background. The players are large and multi-colored.
They even scale slightly as they run across the field. The game is played with
the huge, silly-looking Super Action controllers. The actual gameplay is so bad
it's funny. The linemen don't even move during the play! The three players you
control move like snails across the screen. This is by the far the slowest
football game ever made. As in Coleco's baseball game, ball movement is choppy
and moves with no regard to physics. The graphics are a step up from the Atari
2600 and Intellivision, but the playability is rock bottom.
1 or 2 players

Vectrex:Blitz! (GCE 1982) A-Don't be deceived by first impressions. I know the X's and squares
moving across the grid don't look very exciting, but Blitz is really not a bad
two-player game. If you've played the Atari 2600 Football, you know what kind of
simplistic fun we're talking about here. There are six players on each side, and
six different formations (including kick/punt). The quarterback can run the ball
or throw passes that can be "steered" to the receivers. On defense,
you are a single player that moves faster than the others. It sounds pretty
weak, but it's actually a lot of fun. Given the technology, this game is quite
an achievement. When passing, it takes skill to "thread the needle"
between the defenders. When running, you can use your blockers to slow down
pursuers. Best of all, when a player is tackled, he explodes! You won't see that
in Madden! After each game a nice statistics screen is presented. I thought that
was a really nice touch. There's also a one-player mode, but it's only meant for
practice. Blitz is a pleasant surprise. It's a fun, competitive game on a system
not known for its sports titles.
2 players

For many more football reviews for all other
video game systems, check out The Video Game Critic at www.videogamecritic.net.

I had hoped to do an article on the SNUG
cards, but I am leaving that until I can get some more information on them, and
possibly even talking to Michael Becker about them as well. For next month!

Emulators can best be described as
spilt-personality software. And this is why: on one hand the actual emulation of
the hardware is not illegal per se, it’s the OS, ROMS, and other important
code that can get you into trouble. It’s a gray zone for sure when the
original manufacturers are no longer in business, and the rights have passed on
to someone who has since passed on. But thankfully, emulation keeps on going,
and often this is the ONLY way to try out rare or exotic systems.

You name it, the systems from the 80’s, and
they have almost all been emulated. And, the TI 99/4A is no exception to this.

Over the past eight years, two main emulators
have appeared for the TI 99/4A user. One was shareware, and the other was
commercial. Others have since shown up-MESS being one of them.

VT9 was written by a Texan, and was a
shareware DOS program. It ran particularly fast since the program was in PC
assembly language. But, not altogether complete and the programmer faced the
wrath of the TI Empire-he had to stop distributing the ROMS and GROMS and
cartridges with the emulator.

If I may add something here, sometimes all it
takes is to ask politely, and you can avoid a ton of trouble. When we were
designing the “Game Card” at Asgard Peripherals, we got a complete license
from TI for the grand sum of only $1.00 per unit sold. I still have that
paperwork somewhere.

The other emulator, and the best by far, is
the PC99 program. It is commercial, and is professionally made in its scope and
function. And, like any other vendor product out there, not without its own fair
share of controversy.

The original intent of PC99 was to have 1000
users contact Mike Wright and CADD Electronics to let them know if such a
program was wanted, back in 1992-1993. I think they got closer to $1000 instead!
The whole design of PC99 was 100% emulation, despite the loss in speed-due to
the program being written in C. Many people complained back then how slow PC99
was to a real TI. However, Mike Wright made it very clear back then, that PC
technology would keep on getting faster and faster.

With 16-33 MHz PC’s back then(with 640K
memory), they may not have believed him, but now with 1.4 GHz(and faster) PC’s
with hundreds of megabytes of memory, Mike Wright has more than been vindicated.

PC99 came in steps, with no guarantees of the
next upgrade, but they(CADD) kept on improving the program, with more features
and completion. As such, this current PC99 is far removed from its early
ancestor. With possibly V9938 emulation and more speech, the program will be the
dream machine most TI users have wanted for years. And, the speed enough to have
fast games in Extended Basic!!!! Or, current games too unplayable for their own
good.

The list of emulated devices with PC99 is
impressive, and of course they have emulated the SuperAMS card! What’s more,
they asked for and got permission to do many of the devices in emulation-without
making a big assumption and going on their own. There is something to be said
for that.

CADD is allowed to sell all of the TI carts,
disks, and cassette software for use with PC99, including the Plato Courseware.
And, the entire Tiger Cub software collection is available too. And, you get the
manuals as well. They even offer a service to read you TI disks, and convert
them to PC format.

And all they had to send to TI was a $1 dollar
royalty. Cheap price for an impressive and professional software package. And,
you get fantastic customer service.

There are, of course, the major
never-do-wells, self-appointed guardians of
how-all-things-should-cost-to-us-pirates-crowd. People who accuse CADD of being
a major conglomerate, and other things as well. You see, PC99 is not cheap
enough for some, being nearly $100 dollars for the full version.

But the comparison can’t really be made. The
others are nowhere nearly complete. Should CADD be criticized for wanting to
recoup their development costs, buying the packages and libraries? Absolutely
not! It’s a shame then, with a company wanting to just break even, but offer
services and help above and beyond what many PC companies do, let alone what far
too many TI companies have done in the past.

If I were to get into TI emulation, it would
be either with a Geneve, or even better, PC99. Hmm, maybe a PCI card that would
interface to the TI speech synthesizer would eliminate the speech problem…

You want an emulator that will make you be
able to run your TI memories, faithfully, and with little fuss, and more
features than you can shake a stick at, PC99 is your program. It’s sad that
many in that community don’t see it that way.

I was writing this while listening to the
sound track from “The Right Stuff” and from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra CD.
Everyone have a safe and healthy Thanksgiving! Enjoy it with family and little
ones, they do grow so fast-never take them for granted!

“Hi, my name is Jim W. Krych. I am a 32- year old technician, with an
Electronics Diploma and a soon-to-be finished Computer Programming and
Operations Diploma. I am currently employed at the finest maker of
electrometers/nanovoltmeters/etc., and my particular product line that I work on
is the Source Measure Unit (SMU) model 236,237, and 238. I have a 2-year old
son, his name is Treyton. I enjoy retrogaming and things that go with that. : )
My email address: jwkrych@n2net.net or jwkrych@adelphia.net.

“I love you Treyton, my
son!!!”

I have formed my own business! All other
projects prior to this were carried by other companies, so this time it’s all
in my hands, with a lot of prayer and help from others! The company’s name is
Treyonics, in honor of my son!!! Our flagship product is the Treyonics Home
Controller System, Model 9908, better known as the……....

The classic gaming show for Europe, was
completed recently! If you were like me and your significant other would
not allow you to travel overseas to attend a show, then this is as close as you
came to what looked like a great show! For a full recap of the show, click
on the link below:

I want to start off by apologizing to all the
people whose emails I did not respond to. As seems to be the case with me,
I had some connection problems. Earthlink had taken over the DSL company
that I was with and had screwed things up, as well as up my rate, after
promising not to. So I switched to cable and there was some down
time. During that time, some of my emails that I thought I had,
disappeared. Gotta love AOL! Anyway, if you did not hear from me, I
do appreciate your email and did read it and was planning on
responding.

Last month, I asked a few questions and
received alot of responses. The general consensus is that people want me
to keep the old newsletters as they are. They like to see the gradual
change in them and do not want to see them updated. So, they will stay the
same! You have spoken and I have listened.

Now is time to answer some more
questions. As always, your questions are appreciated and I will do my best
to answer any that I can!

What happened to the MAME
Reviews? They were among my favorite articles and I would like to see them
return.

Fear not, for they will return next
month! I just haven't played alot of MAME. Still recovering after
borrowing the Devastator for two weeks.

I am thinking about doing a
classic game show, do you have any helpful hints?

While I am far from an expert (you need to
talk to the CGE guys if you want experts), I can give you a few tips:

1. Make sure that no one else is having a show
at the same time.
2. Start planning at least 6 months in advance, longer if possible.
3. Get a website for it and let people know about it.
4. Send a press release to sites like this one, Classicgaming, Digital Press,
Classic Gamer Magazine, etc...
5. Send a press release to all local newspapers, television stations and radio
stations.

This is a very small amount of info, but it should be enough to help you get
started. Hope you do have the show and keep me informed!

What was your first
video game system?

Mine was a generic pong unit. Remember how much my brother and I played
it! i could not tell you which one it was, but it only had about 4
variations on the pong game. If I can remember correctly, it had one
player pong, two player pong and one and two player game where you had extra
paddles or something. Pong still is the best two player game!

Sorry if this is old news, but Tom assumed
that I would report on this last month, not knowing that I'd wind up on the DL
for 3+ weeks. Start by checking out pages 474 and 476 (pages may vary?) in the
Christmas 2001 JC Penney catalog. Also try JCPenney.com

Anyhow, my wife pointed out to me and wanted
to buy me one of the Mattel Classic Football handhelds. Yep, the very same
classic football game, and other handhelds are coming back.

Many of us got in trouble playing those in
Junior or Senior high school in the late 70's. Now even cheaper than ebay, for
$14.99 you can get the original Football I by Mattel. Even better now, as this
one will be cleaner than any you'd find at a thrift store or garage sale, and
probably have better electronics. I think that Target had it for $9.99 (or was
it $7.99) one week, but I forgot to save the add. What a bargain price.

JCP also advertises a Tetris handheld
($19.99), and a multi-level 2 player Pac-Man game ($14.99). Another new toy out
there, but not a new idea, is a TV game that requires just batteries, or A/C
adapter and power outlet, and a TV. The games are stored in the controller,
which is hooked up to the TV. The Activision TV games has 10 classics for
$24.99. No cartridges. From the photo looks like (Pitfall, Atlantis, Grand Prix,
Boxing, Hockey, Tennis, Freeway, and then maybe Laser Blast, River Raid and
either Crackpots or Kaboom!. Cannot be sure and I have no time left to surf the
net checking which ones for sure. That'll be an exercise for the student.

There's also another new portable Game Station
Arcade by Pelican, 15 games, with A/C adapter included but no games listed.
Looks like the game played is a revised version of Boulderdash, but with not
much better than NES quality graphics. $29.99. Again, you just need an outlet
and a TV.

I know that I've seen other ones advertised as well, Simon, Simon 2, Merlin and
others. But, just a quick blurb to let you know that they are back, and ion some
cases, new machines that bring us some of the older games, or their likeness.
Maybe by next year we'll see the Head-To-Head games come out by Coleco. Hmmnn,
who owns Coleco now?

While checking out the newsgroups, I came
across a link to this movie called "The MAME Dance"! It is a
flash movie by Grand Master Peter and features a ton of arcade characters,
dancing around to Zorba the Greek music. It is quite fun, especially
trying to name all the different characters that show up! Check out the
very original little movie at the following URL:

Everyone has heard of Nostrodamus and his
predictions. But did you know there was another man who made predictions,
but these all seem to deal with the video game industry. He was a much
lesser known scholar, who went by the name of Pacmanacus, a man whose great
insight was greatly misunderstood during his lifetime (back before electricity
was found). Much of his works were destroyed because they spoke of what
seemed like a great evil to the unenlightened people who read his
works.

While it is next to impossible to find his
works, I was able to obtain a few scrolls of his works. These were written
in an ancient language that I could not understand, so I had to hire a
translator. While he came highly recommended, I cannot guarantee the
accuracy of his translations, so you will have to bear with me on this.
Remember that this is the first time that I am aware of that Pacmanacus' work
has been translated and available for reading, since he first scribed it, many
centuries ago.

The first scroll deals with what appears to be
the rise of Atari and home consoles in general. I will put the translation
and then describe what I think it means.

TranslationFrom the West, a great power will rise. Cloaked in guise of the
East, this spinner of hallucinations will bring many a youth under its spell.

InterpretationWith the USA being in the western hemisphere, Atari will rise.
The guise of the East is its name, Atari, which is a Japanese name. The
spinner of hallucinations deals with how it creates images on the television
screens that get kids addicted to playing it.

TranslationIts power will bring far away lands to your home, some that have
never been tread by man. Captured man and beast will be at the wizard's
control and an ebony scepter will give such power to one man.

InterpretationThe different video game carts will bring new and exciting places to
your house. From the jungles of Africa (Jungle Hunt) to the surface of the
Moon (Moon Patrol) these places will be available to us. The ebony scepter
is the Atari joystick, which is scepter shaped (if you use your imagination) and
is black in color.

TranslationGreat beings from the Heavens will rain down on the Earth. Some
friend, some foe. The very fate of man will be tested and the number of
the test will be three.

InterpretationWhile this may seem a little odd, if you take it literally, you will
see that he is speaking of space games like Space Invaders and Galaxian.
As far as friend, ET is probably one of these. The number three is very
interesting as it is usually the number of tries you get in the average arcade
game and the very mention of this number is astonishing in its own right.

I do not want to overwhelm you with too much
stuff, so I will end it here for the month. Tune in next month as
Pacmanacus predicts the Great Video Game crash and the rise of Nintendo!

I hope that everyone has a safe and enjoyable
Thanksgiving! Make sure to thank the cook who provides your meal, be it
your spouse, parents or whoever. Also, remember that turkey sandwiches go
great with video game playing!

Tune in next month as I hope to do more writing. The last month was a bit
hectic and I hope that as the holidays pass, my life will return to a little
less hectic. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the issue and thanks to everyone who
sent an email! I do read each one and try to answer most of them.
Keep playing those games and now is a great time to check out the
Dreamcast! At only $50.00 new and a ton of cheap games, it would make a
great addition to your collection or a great present! Sure beats electric
socks!